Andrew Peterson

User Researcher at PandaUX

Wellington, New Zealand

Andrew is a User Researcher at PANDAUX, a Wellington-based UI/UX design agency which incorporates user research and discovery to drive design strategy. Andrew comes from a career of freelance photography and web design and has decided to now shift his focus and his career towards creating unique user experience. Andrew is passionate about User Research and spends a lot of his time talking to end users, and enjoys carrying out analysis and research work to first and foremost better understand user needs and in turn develop better tailored experiences.

TALK

Cross-cultural UX: How Values Are Influenced by Culture and How to Avoid Stereotypical Thinking

This talk reflects on our recent engagement with ChangeMakers Refugee Services, a rights-based, non-government organisation (NGO) representing 14 refugee-background communities in Wellington. The talk will also reflect on some of the works of Gert Hofstede, a Dutch organisational sociologist and pioneer in cross-cultural research.

The talk's focus will be on our experiences working with refugees and their participation in our UX workshops, remembering that many participants spoke no English and have had very little exposure to NZ culture. The talk will also re-emphasise the importance of embracing user-centered design principles and UX techniques in product/service design, irrespective of the context.

We will also reflect on how this engagement helped us realise that no matter what your geopolitical standing is, we live a global village and we need to think that way when designing products and services, and that UX design principles and techniques breaks through those biases and stereotypes helping us realise that we all speak one language and desire experiences that cater for others.